


Secrets in the Flarelight

by Withywood



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, POV Adora (She-Ra), POV First Person, Pre-Series, Truth or Dare, catradora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24240106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Withywood/pseuds/Withywood
Summary: Catra has a game in mind to distract Adora from her training.Set before the first episode.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 103





	Secrets in the Flarelight

Thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight.

The well battered sparring bag swings wildly, straining on its chains, as I deliver each blow. My palm heel is still off centre, no matter how many sets I do. With a last strike, I steady the bag, taking a deep breath. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I feel my heart thumping in my chest. If princesses attacked the Fright Zone tonight, how would I protect my friends with such sloppy attacks? I’ve been so off lately. I grab a glass of water and try and steady my ragged breathing. Qualifiers are coming up in weeks and my course time is worse than ever, and the more I train the worse it seems to be getting. I examine myself in the mirror above the sink. Is that the face of a force captain? The face of the soldier who’ll liberate Etheria from the tyranny of the Rebellion? It just looks like the face of a failure. I finish the glass in one gulp, slamming it down hard. No, I’ll stay up all night if I have to. Another few sets with the bag and then I’ll switch to—

‘Hey, Adora. You look sweatier than usual,’ Catra smirks, leaning against the bag. I furrow my brow.

‘Yeah, some of us are trying to pass the simulator. You might do yourself some favours if you broke a sweat once in a while,’ I shoot back, crossing my arms.

‘Aw, you know that’s never been my style. I always manage to get by with my natural talent,’ she laughs, tapping her claws together. Catra slinks towards me, a scheming look in her eyes. ‘You know, you’ll never get anywhere just throwing yourself at training all the time. Play is just as important as work.’

‘Play? Now? Catra do you realise—’ I begin to protest, but she presses a finger against my lips.

‘Shh. So worked up all the time, you need to unwind. Maybe a little game…’ Catra inches her face closer to mine, whispering in my ear. My heart starts pounding harder than ever, and my breath catches in my throat. ‘Of… tag!’ She shouts, pushing me off balance and leaping back towards the bunks. I land hard on my arms, and raise up to see her scoop up the sheets and pillows from my bunk. We make eye contact.

‘Catra. Drop it,’ I say, raising a finger at her. ‘Drop the bedding, Catra, bad.’ Catra stares at me, pupils dilated. She looks at the sheets in her arms, then slowly back to me. Without warning, she bolts out the door full speed, cackling as she goes. ‘Oh come on,’ I complain as I raise back to my feet. It’s already late and I don’t have time for her games right now. I take off after her, taking a sharp left down the hall. I didn’t see which way she went, but knowing her, she wants me to follow her anyway. At a stairwell ahead, I catch a glimpse of a tail swaying side to side, poking out the doorway. ‘Catra! I can see you! Would you please come back, night-time inspections will be any minute!’ I cry out, as the tail whips back into the door and I hear her laugh echoing further down the stairs. Why is she like this? I round the corner and leap down the stairs two a time, following the sound of her mocking laugh. We exit on one of the lower floors, just lit by emergency lighting. I can barely see the shape of the corridor ahead through the murky red glow, and I feel my way along piled up crates of supplies and the still shapes of decommissioned bots.

‘Getting waaaaarmer,’ her voice floats down the darkness, tilted with playfulness. I groan, rubbing my temples. Whatever she has planned can’t be more important than—

I’m suddenly pulled into an open doorway to my right, falling into the room. I nearly lose my balance, steadying myself against a wall. ‘You know, we need to have a word about all the shoving, Catra,’ I tell her, expecting to see her standing in front of me. But there’s nothing, just a huge storeroom. The chase isn’t over yet, great. The room looks like it was a hanger, once, with hulking old ships dominating the immense space, flight equipment and repair kits that look as though they were abandoned mid use left scattered in the places between. I wander through, calling out for her, navigating my way around clumsily through the dimness. I duck under a ship’s wing, and a little ways beyond the nose of it, I see a soft green glow. I slowly circle the piled up containers behind it and find Catra, sitting in a little fort made of stolen pillows and sheets, emergency flares softly bathing the little sanctuary in emerald.

‘Hey, Adora,’ Catra purrs, legs crossed with her arms around my pillow, in a baggy shirt.

‘What is all this?’ I murmur, running my hand along the training staff being used as a load bearing pillar. ‘You know Catra, if you applied yourself like this to something that wouldn’t get us on mop duty for three weeks, you’d really end up going places.’

‘Oh, boo,’ she quipped back, squeezing the pillow.

‘You know we’re going to have to return all this before someone finds it missing, right?’

‘Adoooora!’ Catra whines, falling onto her back. ‘Can’t you just go with something fun for once? Relax, those are problems for later, look,’ she rises back up, brandishing a plate of rations. ‘I stole pleeenty~’

‘How did you even,’ I look around, peering back towards the entrance, then flick back to the plate, my stomach rumbling. I skipped dinner because I hadn’t gotten through sit-ups. ‘Okay, fine, maybe one.’

‘There’s my girl,’ Catra laughs. I crouch down under the sheets making up the roof and fluff a few pillows, sitting across from her. Catra frowns and quickly slides up next to me, dangling a ration bar in front of my face. ‘Do you want it?’ I try and snatch it out of her hand, but it’s already gone. I hate her reflexes, I really do. 

‘What do you want, Catra?’ I grumble, resigning myself to a ridiculous demand. To my surprise, Catra catches her breath, her ears flat down. I raise an eyebrow at her, and she darts her head away from me.

‘I was on kitchen duty last week, you know, because of the soap incident. And some of the other girls came in, so I hid in the rafters.’

‘Of course you did,’ I chuckle. She glares daggers at me. ‘Sorry, sorry, keep going!’

‘Well, they were talking about a game… you take turns asking questions. You have to answer a question, or do something.’

‘Truth or dare you mean?’

‘So you’ve already played it?!’ Catra hisses, arms crossing firmly against her chest.

‘No, I haven’t, promise! I just heard about it too, during lunch one time,’ I reassure her, gently putting my hand on her shoulder. ‘Are you saying you want to play that? Isn’t it for kids?’

‘Urgh, I knew you’d think it’s stupid. You can just go, then,’ she sulks, tucking her knees under her chin. 

‘Catra…’ I sigh, letting go of her shoulder. I look up at the sheets making the roof of the tent. It's actually more impressive from the inside, with blankets layered against the crate sides so it'd still be comfortable. It would have taken weeks of stashing these away without anyone noticing. She did all this just to play this game with me. My face flushes with heat, and I turn my head to the side, pretending to cough. ‘Hey. Truth or dare.’ Catra darts back to me, eyes wide.

‘DARE.’ She answers without hesitation. Figures. 

‘Uhh,’ I look around, trying to think of something. ‘I dare you to… do a handstand?’ Catra looks incredibly unimpressed, her face pursed. 

‘That’s the best you can do, Adora?’ She gets up, walking to the front of the fort. Without skipping a beat, she flips onto her arms, and her shirt falls down over her face, showing her lacy red…

‘Oh my word!’ I shout, covering my eyes. Catra struggles with the shirt and falls back onto her feet, smoothing it down and looking flustered.

‘Oh grow up Adora, we’ve changed together a million times,’ she mutters, not looking any less red. I peek through my hands.

‘Isn’t that my shirt?’ I ask, just now recognising it in the dim light.

‘So what?!’ She spits back, ripping a pillow from the ground over it again. ‘I ran out of my pyjamas, why do you care?’

‘I don’t, it,’ I stammer, slowly lowering my hands and running my hand back through my hair, trying to look composed. ‘It looks good on you.’ Catra’s ears shoot up. Her mouth opens slightly, as if she’s going to say something, but she just swipes at the air and ducks under her pillow.

‘Truth or dare, you idiot,’ she asks into it, voice muffled.

‘Oh no, truth, I’m picking truth. I’m not about to go steal Shadow Weaver’s comb or whatever horrible thing you have in mind,’ I confidently answer, smiling smugly to myself as I reach over to the plate of food.

‘I wasn’t going to, oh fine, whatever,’ she objects, looking back up at me. She squints at me, thinking. I look back at her, jamming ration bars into my face.

‘What?’ I ask, crumbs spilling out of my mouth, ‘they’re the grey kind.’ She smiles warmly at me, and I feel my heart flutter in my chest. I swallow hard, wiping my mouth and offering the plate up. ‘Would you like one?’ Catra laughs, gingerly picking one up and snapping it in half, nibbling on an edge.

‘Do you care about me as much as work?’ She asks, looking at the ration bar.

‘Excuse me?’ I reply, taken aback.

‘For your question, idiot. Do you care about me as much as training, getting to active duty, Shadow Weaver, the Horde, everything. I feel like I come second, sometimes, is all.’ She pulls pieces off the bar, rolling it into a ball between her fingers. I reach over, scooping up her wrist and sliding my hand into hers.

‘I care about you more than any of those things, Catra. I work so hard because I'm doing it for both of us. One day, we’ll be out there, side by side, bringing peace to the whole world.’ I feel Catra squeeze my hand tightly.

‘I don’t care about that junk, just the side by side part,’ she leans against my arm, tracing circles in my palm with a single claw. ‘Just don’t leave me behind when you’re off saving the world.’

‘Never,’ I assure her, resting my head against hers. I feel her softly purring against me, and I run my fingers through her hair. She looks up at me, her eyes nearly glowing in the cool light of the flares, still burning away. I see myself in the reflection of them, my own eyes wide. My mouth suddenly feels incredibly dry. ‘Hey, are your palms sweaty?’ I abruptly ask, bolting upright. ‘Boy, my palms sure feel sweaty sometimes, you know?’ I clear my throat, looking back at Catra, her gaze still firmly set on me, eyes like bright moons among a jade night. She reaches over to my face with one hand, and flicks my nose. 

‘Your turn, Adora,’ she says, leaning back on her arms. My brain feels like a skid with a broken engine, and when I try and start it, it just sputters in response.

‘Yeah, sure, yeah. My turn. Truth or dare?’ I ask, trying to remember what people usually do with their hands casually, settling on a very wrong hands on hips pose.

‘Truth,’ she casually answers, tail slowly whipping behind her. ‘But it better not be “what did you eat for breakfast Catra,”’ she mockingly adds, in what I can only assume is her Adora voice. I think for a bit, trying over and over to jump-start my brain. I look at her, trying to read her face for some sort of hint. She just smiles at me, her face resting somewhere between content and smug. My shirt really looks like more of a dress on her, cascading down her thighs, but just falling below… no, that’s not helping. No, wait.

‘Did you really run out of pyjamas?’ I ask. Her expression flashes suddenly into something resembling panic, ears alert. 

‘Yes, maybe, no, I just, mine aren’t as comfy for sleeping, and,’ She fires off contradicting answers in rapid succession.

‘Actually, I didn’t notice any of my shirts missing from the fresh laundry delivery? Unless you took one that I already—’ I’m cut off as Catra leaps over at me, knocking me back and pinning down my wrists.

‘Don’t say another word,’ she demands, eyes full of lethal intent. She’s landed squarely on top of me, her waist pressed against mine, her face just a few feet away. She smells indistinguishably like herself. Like home. Her face softens. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘It’s your turn,’ I say, not breaking her gaze. She swallows, hard.

‘Truth or dare, Adora?’ She almost whispers.

‘Dare.’ I slide her hands off my arms to my hands, pulling her in closer and hearing her let out the quietest squeak as I press my lips against hers. I move my hand to the small of her back, the other supporting us, and she wraps hers around me, pulling at my tank-top. Her fangs tease my bottom lip, and I kiss her deeper, pulling her chest tightly against mine. She shudders, easing into me. Slowly, she leans her face back, panting and her hair wild.

‘I didn’t get to ask,’ she laughs, brushing it back, then lowering down to rest her head against my chest. I ease us onto the ground, feeling her comforting weight on top of me.

‘Could have sworn you did,’ I reply, softly rubbing the ends of her ears.

‘Do you think we can stay here for a while?’ she asks, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

‘I'd really like that.’

‘Promise?’ She sighs, curling up against me.

‘I promise.’

**Author's Note:**

> Can only think about Catradora, tried writing a fic to get it out my system.


End file.
